Yesterday I received an email from a Sandler franchisee inviting me to attend a live “Buyers Are Liars Workshop.” I’ve seen and heard this statement before, but only now feel compelled to voice my opinion.
I don’t know about you, but that phrase and the combative attitude it represents concerns me. Do buyers lie? Sure, some of them do. Do sellers lie? Same story.
The sales profession has enough to overcome without a sales training industry leader conveying this negative, fatalistic view of selling.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not attacking the Sandler organization or any of their franchisees. ESR covers Sandler and we know they certainly have their share of satisfied, loyal customers in the markets they serve.
But many of us, including Howard Stevens and the University Sales Education Foundation, are working hard to elevate the profession of selling in the U.S. and other parts of the world. With that in mind, it would certainly help this and future generations of sales professionals for us to tone down the rhetoric and spend our creative energies helping salespeople better understand how to establish mutually beneficial, trusting relationships with their customers. If someone doesn’t believe that can be accomplished, they should consider another profession.
